My Top 8 Books of 2023 – Part One

Here are my favourite eight books of the first quarter of 2023. One of these will definitely make it into my top three books of 2023. While I read a lot of crime novels all these books are other genres, as a crime novel needs to be totally unique and exceptional to make it into my favourites.

So Pretty by Ronnie Turner

Part way through this I had to make a family tree so I could remember who was whose son or daughter. There are some unsavoury characters in each family – Teddy’s father, Ada’s mother and her mother’s mother. Then we have Mr Vincent, who is creepy and evil – at least that is what the townspeople think. I don’t disagree. He owns a shop called Berry & Vincent, but no-one goes in or shops there. Many years ago there was an antique shop in Cheltenham called Summerfields. It was jam-packed with stuff and he never sold anything. When he passed away, it turned out he was a millionaire. But I digress. I’m certain he was a very nice man and a trust was set up in his name.

For my full review click here

Someone Is Coming by TA Morton

This was one of the strangest books I have ever read. I mean that in a good way. It’s very short and is basically the story of 93-year-old Philip Goundry, now living in a care home in the UK, and how he gradually reveals his memories to Dr Lin.

But all is not as it seems. As he recalls, over a period of time, his childhood on a rubber plantation in Singapore, memories he has buried over decades start to emerge. His father was a good man, or was he? His mother ran away with a lover and was never seen again. His Amah and her superstitions – there was a pontianak, she said, a vampire girl from Malay and Indonesian mythology in the abandoned house where a woman died. This girl would draw men to their death. Don’t go near.

For my full review click here

Make Me Clean by Tina Baker

Having read both of Tina’s other novels, I knew what to expect. It wouldn’t be ordinary, the humour would be dark and the story wouldn’t pull any punches. And I wasn’t wrong.

Our main protagonist is Maria – a cleaner. But she’s no ordinary cleaner. She’s very good at getting blood out of the carpet and bodies out of the house. She could make a career out of it, if she didn’t feel so guilty.

First there might have been her traveller husband Joby, the love of her life, but initially there are only vague references to what may have happened.

For my full review click here

Em & Me by Beth Morrey

If it was possible to give six stars to Em & Me on Amazon or Goodreads, I would. Beth has the ability to create such believable characters. Delphine is wonderful, but at times she is so negative you want to scream at her. Daughter Em is a joy. She’s clever almost to the point of genius level but she’s never precocious or unlikeable.

Delphine’s French mother died when Delphine was a child and her father – a piano tuner – fell to pieces. He’s out of tune but he can’t retune himself. Delphine became his carer as well as being a single mum to Em. They live in a tiny flat with only her income. She and Em still have to share a bed. And then she gets the sack from the coffee shop where she works (personally I think she deserved a medal).

For my full review click here

Mother’s Day by Abigail Burdess

Get to the top of the list! This was totally bonkers and I loved it! It’s not even trying to be anything else (I hope I haven’t got that wrong). I’ve read a couple of reviews that said it rapidly spins out of control until it becomes utterly batshit crazy (latter are my words not theirs). I think that’s the whole point of the dark humour. To me it was perfect.

I read it in one sitting while I was off sick and my husband was at work, but I’d probably have taken the day off to finish it if I wasn’t (only joking work peeps).

For my full review click here

All The Little Bird-Hearts by Victoria Lloyd Barlow

Poor Sunday! Unloved by her mother, blamed for her sister’s death and then rejected by her husband, whom she refers to as the King, none of them understood her or why she behaves the way she does. Except maybe David at the farm, where she works. David is deaf and Sunday signs with him. He is probably my second favourite character, after Sunday.

As for her new next-door neighbours, Vita and her husband Rollo, they made my skin crawl from day one. Vita with her pretensions, her affectations and an accent so posh it’s ‘almost a speech impediment’, as someone once joked to me. I hope that’s not too un-PC. But Sunday is entranced by their charm, as is her sixteen-year-old daughter Dolly. Vita calls Sunday ‘Wife’ – no idea why – Rollo is Rols and Dolly is Doll.

For my full review click here

Murder Under The Tuscan Sun by Rachel Rhys

And now for something completely different. So not my usual genre, but I loved it.

Poor Constance! Too ‘old and fat’ to be any threat to the ‘ailing gentleman art dealer’, recovering from a bleed to the brain. That’s the view of the selfish, air-head Evelyn, who sees women’s only worth being decorative, forgetting that it takes more than that to be a good ‘companion’ to an intelligent man like William North. A man who disapproves of Mussolini’s black shirts and Evelyn’s husband Roberto happens to be one of them.

Not that Constance has any designs on her wealthy employer. Though after a year as a widow and many more since she had a proper relationship with her late husband, it’s difficult not to be attracted. Even in illness William is an imposing, handsome figure. But Constance has travelled alone to Italy to be his companion and nothing more.

For my full review click here

End Of Story by Louise Swanson

I’ve read three of Louise’s novels, written under the name Louise Beech. Nothing Else was one of my favourite books of 2022. I don’t think I’ve ever cried so much while reading a book.

‘If you tell a story well enough, it’s true.’ says Fern. It’s her catchphrase, her motto.

End Of Story is very different. It’s set in the future, in a dystopian world where all fiction is banned. Once a month there is an amnesty at ALLBooks, where novels can be handed in without fear of prosecution. Like guns or knives.

For my full review click here

So that’s it! Back in three months with my next list of favourites. See you then!